ssue all over the world. Several countries have imposed a ban on usage of plastic, which is a non-degradable material. In this context, the packaging industry is also determined to come up with more eco-friendly packs and materials. Arpan FP started its operations in 2001 to share the same goal of manufacturing eco-friendly, bio-degradable and disposable food packaging items mostly for consuming food, beverages and eatables at public places where re-washable utensils are not hygienic due to lack of clean water and facilities.

Arpan FP, located at Vasai(East), a major industrial area of Thane, started with the widely used item, i.e. paper cups. Paper cups are made of poly coated paper with 15-micron thickness. The poly coating inside the glass is very thin, which degrades very fast. Currently the company runs four machines producing 4 lakh pieces per day. The process of making paper cups is completely automatic and need not be touched by any one during its manufacture.

Arvind Jain and Pankaj Jain jointly run Arpan FP. Explaining the importance of paper cups Arvind said, "Paper cups are biodegradable, eco-friendly, disposable, hygienic, internationally accepted and can have quality printing." Paper cup is a very attractive print medium that can be used for brand endorsement and advertisement of products.

Arpan FP claims to have initiated the tradition of paper cups in the railways. It is the major supplier of paper cups to railways and airports in a current date. Some of the big names like Kingfisher, Spyker Jeans, CNN news, Jivraj tea, Heinz, Cadbury have used Arpan's paper cups to promote their products and companies. The company had a turnover of Rs 1 crore in the past year and is expecting a growth of 40% after current year.

The quality of paper is decided in terms of gsm (Gram per Square Meter). As the size of the cup increases, the gsm, i.e. thickness of the paper, should also increase. Emphasising their quality policy Arvind said, "We can proudly claim to be the leader in the industry due to our quality. Others are reducing the thickness of paper to bring down the prices, but we want to provide a superior quality paper at the same price. We ensure our cups are leakage free, strong, convenient and attractive."

Regarding the higher cost of the paper cups Pankaj replied, "The cost of the plastic cup may be cheaper but the cost of the paper cup to the user may be brought down by printing some ads on its surface and recovering a major part of the cost through such advertisements."

Another major issue in front of such players is competition from international market. The cups may be imported from abroad where government duties are very less.

The company wants to increase its production in near future by 200% and has procured a 5000 sq. ft land to install more machines. They are also in the process of designing their own machine with high capacity that will not be affected by the outer atmosphere to ensure hygienic manufacturing process.